50,000 stolen iTunes accounts up for Chinese auction

Around 50,000 stolen iTunes accounts are currently up for sale on Chinese auction site TaoBao, which refuses to pull the listing until it receives "a valid takedown request" from Apple. The accounts are apparently linked to stolen credit cards, and temporary 12hr access is being offered for just 1 yuan ($0.15) at a time. According to China's Global Times, at least one seller has admitted that the accounts are stolen, saying that "of course these accounts are hacked, otherwise how could they be so cheap?"

"We take all reasonable and necessary measures to protect the rights of consumers who use Taobao, of our sellers and of third-parties," the auction site has said, however "until we receive a valid takedown request, we cannot take action." The sales follow Apple's launch of the Mac App Store yesterday, which uses the same iTunes account as for iPad, iPhone, iPod and Apple TV sales. Apple is yet to comment on the news.